Handling Contaminated and Unfamiliar Automotive Refrigerants

It's clear to most automotive service technicians by
now that buying and handling A/C refrigerants is a lot
more complicated than it used to be. Even when R-12 was
the only refrigerant in town, many A/C techs discovered
systems that had been contaminated with air, R-22 or
hydrocarbons such as propane and butane. Today, with
new vehicles using R-134a refrigerant, and with
an
abundance of other
R-12 substitutes reaching the market, the variety
of refrigerants that techs may handle on the job is
making A/C service more complicated than ever.

This document is designed to assist techs in
determining how to identify, recover, and dispose of
any contaminated refrigerants they may encounter. This
document will also discuss what a tech should do with a
substitute refrigerant that he has chosen not to work
with or is unfamiliar to him. EPA intends to update
this document whenever the Agency receives new
information about potential solutions to the problems
relating to contaminated or unfamiliar
refrigerants.

A. Identifying refrigerants

EPA requires that when any vehicle is retrofitted
from R-12, a label identifying the new refrigerant in
the system must be placed under the hood, and new
fittings that are unique to that refrigerant must be
attached to the high- and low-side service ports of the
A/C system. (For a complete discussion of these and
other requirements, see the EPA fact sheet "Choosing
and Using Alternative Refrigerants.") These EPA
requirements obviously don't solve the entire
refrigerant identification problem. Your shop could
encounter a vehicle that has been retrofitted to
another refrigerant but has not been properly
relabeled, or a vehicle that has the right label, but
highly contaminated refrigerant.

Checking refrigerant pressures does not guarantee
that you will recognize that refrigerant is
contaminated or is a brand that is unfamiliar to you.
Unusual head pressures may tip you off that a system
labeled to indicate that it has pure R-12 or R-134a in
it actually is highly contaminated or contains another
refrigerant altogether. However, you may also encounter
a contaminated system, or a system that contains a
blend refrigerant, that indicates pressures similar to
those of pure R-12 or R-134a.

Purchasing a refrigerant identifier unit can help
pinpoint many refrigerant identification problems, and
EPA strongly recommends (but does not require) that
techs obtain this equipment. You can use the identifier
to confirm that the refrigerant your supplier is
sending you is exactly what he says it is -- pure and
uncontaminated. The equipment you choose will depend on
what you plan to do once you discover that refrigerant
in a vehicle is not pure R-12 or R-134a. If, for
example, you decide to turn the customer with a
contaminated system away, then a less-expensive
identifier that simply tells you whether refrigerant is
pure R-12 or R-134a ("go/no-go") may be sufficient for
you.

However, a unit that can help you identify the
chemical composition of the refrigerant more
specifically can be an important diagnostic tool, so
that the extra cost may be well worth it. Some models
can identify flammable substances, which require
special care and safe handling (see
section B below). Some models
can tell you how much air is in recycled refrigerant,
so that you can use these models to determine whether
the air purge cycle feature on your R-12 or R-134a
recycling equipment is functioning properly. Excess air
in an A/C system can lead to false readings in
electronic low charge indicators in some vehicles;
rapid clutch cycling and potential clutch failures; and
noisy compressor operation. Finally, using this tool
may build your customers' confidence in your diagnostic
abilities.

Keep in mind that even the most sophisticated
diagnostic units on the market today cannot properly
identify all combinations of chemicals used in blend
refrigerants. Diagnostic identifiers being sold today
may be able to identify potential R-12 and R-134a
contaminants such as air, R-22, and hydrocarbons, but
many were not designed to identify R-124 and R-142b
(chemicals that are components in many of the new
substitutes), or to recognize particular chemical
combinations as specific patented, marketed blend
refrigerants. In the future, equipment manufacturers
may develop equipment designed to identify all of the
substitute refrigerants that are being marketed
today.

Whether you are interested in purchasing a
"go/no-go" unit or a diagnostic unit, check that the
unit meets the SAE J1771 standard, which is an
indication that the unit accurately identifies
refrigerants. When claiming to meet this standard,
manufacturers of identifier equipment are required to
label the unit stating its level of accuracy.

If you are reluctant to invest in another piece of
equipment, consider making an arrangement to borrow an
identifier from a nearby service facility that has
purchased one. That facility may agree to make its
identifier available to you for a reasonable fee.

You may not wish to turn away a good customer who
comes to the shop with contaminated R-12 or R-134a, or
with a substitute refrigerant for which you have no
dedicated recovery or recycling equipment. What do you
do?

As a first step, the contaminated or unfamiliar
refrigerant must be recovered. EPA prohibits venting
any automotive refrigerants (including "unacceptable"
refrigerants), no matter what combination of chemicals
is in the refrigerant. The best way today that a tech
can recover contaminated or unfamiliar refrigerant is
to dedicate a recover-only unit to anything that is not
pure R-12 or pure R-134a. Some equipment manufacturers
may also be marketing new types of recover-only
stations specifically designed to remove these
refrigerants.

If the refrigerant you extract into a recovery unit
contains a high level of flammable substances such as
propane and butane, a fire hazard may result if the
refrigerant comes into contact with an ignition source
within the equipment. Whether you are purchasing a new
piece of equipment to handle your contaminated and
unfamiliar refrigerants, or you are converting a piece
of existing equipment for this purpose, make sure you
talk to your sales representative about what features
have been incorporated into the equipment to guard
against risks of ignition.

Refrigerant should be recovered into the standard
DOT-certified, gray-with-yellow-top recovery tank, and
if the tank is not equipped with a float valve (which
serves as overfill protection), make sure it never gets
filled beyond 60% of its gross weighted capacity, as
specified in the SAE J1989 and J2211 standards.

If A/C service is not a large percentage of your
business, then you may be reluctant to invest in
another piece of recovery equipment. If this is the
case, consider calling a local A/C specialty shop that
may have the equipment necessary to service
contaminated refrigerants or refrigerants that are
unknown to you.

Once recovered, refrigerant should not be recycled
on-site unless it is uncontaminated R-12 or R-134a.
Recovering contaminated R-12 or R-134a refrigerant into
recycling equipment may damage the equipment. In
addition, EPA regulations currently prohibit
technicians from recycling blend substitute
refrigerants (contaminated or not). EPA is working with
independent testing laboratories and with equipment
manufacturers to determine whether it is possible to
develop recycling equipment to service these blends
that protects both the health or safety of the
technician, and the integrity of the A/C system.

C. Storage and disposition of contaminated or
unfamiliar refrigerants

Once the refrigerant has been recovered, if you
can't recycle it, what do you do with it? The answer,
naturally, is that it depends.

Storage

If the refrigerant in your "junk" tank contains
significant amounts of flammable substances, it may be
considered hazardous and you should make sure you
follow any local ordinances that govern the storage of
combustible mixtures. In addition, if your shop
generates over 100 kilograms (220 pounds) of hazardous
wastes per month (including used coolant, paint, rust
removers, solvents, degreasers, and battery acids),
then your shop must meet certain storage and
transportation requirements under the Resource,
Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA). For more details,
call the RCRA Hotline at (800) 424-9346 and ask for EPA
publication 530-K-95-001, the 1996 update of
"Understanding the Hazardous Waste Rules -- A Handbook
for Small Businesses." You may also wish to check out
the web site of the Coordinating Committee
for Automotive Repair.

Disposition

If the refrigerant in your "junk" recovery tank is a
chemical "soup" -- either contaminated R-12 and R-134a,
or a mixture of those contaminated refrigerants and
some blend refrigerants that you are unfamiliar with --
then the contents should be
reclaimed
or destroyed. You should investigate all your options
and pick the one that makes the most economic sense for
you.

If you have a contract in place with a waste hauler,
contact the hauler to see if they can handle the
material. Waste haulers may require that the contents
be identified first and may charge you for this
identification procedure. They are most likely to send
the tank to an incinerator for destruction. You may
also want to contact one or more reclaimers, who will
send the refrigerant off-site either for destruction,
or for reclamation, which involves breaking it up into
its chemical components and purifying each of the
components.

Some reclaimers can handle tanks sent to them from
anywhere in the nation. A reclaimer does not
necessarily have to be located in your area.

Due to the expense involved in reclaiming, some
reclaimers may not accept less than 500 or 1000 pounds
of contaminated or mixed refrigerant. In addition, you
should be aware that not all reclaimers have the
technology to handle all contaminated or mixed
refrigerants. However, if one tells you that he is not
interested in receiving your tank, don't necessarily
assume that the next reclaimer you call will say the
same thing.

Before you enter into any agreement with either your
waste hauler or a reclaimer, make sure you understand
all of the costs involved; there may be separate
charges for identifying the material, transporting it
and destroying it. If you are responsible for shipping
the tank, make sure that the hauler or reclaimer
explains to you how to comply with any applicable DOT,
state and local requirements relating to shipping.

EPA maintains a
list of
reclaimers that is available through the Hotline at
800/296-1996. EPA will update this fact sheet in the
event that the Agency receives more specific
information about which reclaimers will accept mystery
mixtures of refrigerant.

If you have questions about disposing of specific
blend refrigerants, call the refrigerant manufacturer.
Most manufacturers of blend refrigerants have made
arrangements with specific reclaimers to handle their
used refrigerant. For a list of these telephone
numbers, see the EPA fact sheet
Choosing
and Using Alternative Refrigerants.